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Xiom Hugo HAL/SAL and 36.5 Deep Impact ALX |
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yogi_bear
Forum Moderator Joined: 11/25/2004 Location: Philippines Status: Offline Points: 7219 |
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Posted: 05/29/2020 at 1:44pm |
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36.5 Deep Impact ALX Blade Weight: 85 grams (approximate) Thickness: 5.72mm Plies: 7 (Koto with Carbon-Axylium composite and possibly Kiri core) Speed: Offensive Plus This is the blade of the series and possibly the blade I prefer among all Xiom blades that I have own and still own. I have the Stradivarius and is still one of my favorites but the 36.5 Deep Impact ALX blade has caught my attention since I have been an ALC blade user ever since. Xiom states that the process they have used for constructing the blade is different and the first in the industry. Xiom’s Cold Process is different from the usual way of removing moisture from the wood layers. The traditional ways are letting the wood plies dry under the sun or using a heating kiln to eliminate moisture. The Cold Process is different because it takes longer to dry and press the wood plies compared to the high temperature process wherein it dries the wood plies quickly. The purpose of the Cold Process is to preserve the original characteristics of the wood plies. This blade, like the Ice Cream blades and Hugo SAL, is made in Korea. The high quality construction is very obvious the moment you lay your eyes on the blade. The surface is semi-smooth and no way rough. The handle shape is identical to that of the AZX and AZXi blades with a 100mm x 25mm dimensions. If people like the Stradivarius blade, the 36.5 Deep Impact ALX Blade is the blade to get if they are looking for something that is similar in performance with a certain famous ALC blade in the market. This might be the least priced blade compared to the other 3 new blades of Xiom but in my opinion this is the best blade from Xiom yet. Speed The 36.5 ALX is an OFF+ blade with an oustanding level of control. The 36.5’s speed is comparable with other famous blades in the market. The 36.5 blade’s speed is faster than the Xiom Hugo SAL and the new Xiom Stradivarius. The 36.5 blade is slower than the old Stradivarius, more or less equal speed than the Viscaria, slower than Stiga Dynasty and slower than the Xiom AXi Ice Cream blade. The ball has a medium high bounce when bouncing against the bare blade with a medium high pitch. I used a Xiom Tau II rubber for the forehand and Xiom Omega 7 China Ying for the backhand. I also switched the forehand and backhand rubbers just to check the effects of using a rubber that has characteristics of a Chinese rubber. The 36.5 Blade has a medium-high speed. I did not find it too fast. The speed is typical to the current ALC blades in the market. It is safe to say that the control and speed of the 36.5 far exceeded my expectation. As I have theorized before, Xiom now has emphasized more on the feel and control of the blade due to the fact that their rubbers are very fast especially on the recent release of their Omega 7 Hyper rubbers. Looping or spinning The 36.5 Deep Impact ALX is the 2nd best looping blade in the series after the Hugo SAL blade. Both have a good “dwell” with a more profound feel that goes for the Hugo SAL. It is a one good looping machine but can loop farther away from the table compared to the Hugo SAL due to the faster speed and greater amount of force it can produce for the ball. It is also excellent at middle distance and long distance counter looping from the table. I have observed that the ball with both Tau II and Xioom Omega 7 as having medium arc when looping. I would say that the accuracy of my loops with the 36.5 5 are as good as my loops when I am using the new Stradivarius as both have this medium-soft feel when looping. Feel The biggest selling point of both the Hugo Sal and 36.5 Deep Impact ALX is that both have outstanding feel. The 36.5 DE ALX has this medium soft feel compared to the harder feel of the Viscaria or Timo Boll ALC. Despite having almost similar wood plies and construction, the 36.5 DE ALX has a more or less woody feel. It kinda felt softer than the mentioned ALC blades. For me, TB ALC feels the hardest follow by Viscaria and then the 36.5 DE ALX is the softest of the 3. The newly re-released Stradivarius has a somewhat equal feel to the 36.5 DE ALX. Adding to that, the handle is very comfortable to the hand. Its ergonomic feel reminds me of those discontinued Adidas blades. Control and Usability The 36.5 DE ALX is a very forgiving blade. Since the feel
is topnotch and the speed above average, it can be used by anybody within the
intermediate level provided the rubbers are not too fast. The power is subtle.
It looks like it is not fast but once you start attacking with it, you can feel
the great balance of the speed and control. Overall, this is a great blade to
invest with since it has a better feel and ball feedback to the hand compared
to other popular blades of the same design. Hugo HAL/SAL Weight: 85 grams Thickness: 5.81mm Plies: 7 (Koto outer with Axylium composite and possibly Kiri core) Speed: Off The Hugo SAL blade is the first non-carbon composite blade made by Xiom if memory serves me right. Composite blades with only arylate layers are few in the market. The last time I remember a blade like this was when the Moonbeam was still produced or when the Friendship Zebra transformer blade was still considered new many years ago. In my opinion, Xiom designed this blade that maximizes feel but with consideration also for speed. The construction is different from what you have seen before that was posted online. The previous version had a blue axylium composite layer while the newer one has the orange-colored axylium. The ones you have seen online posted before and tested by several forumers are the old version blades. This is the reason why I deferred the chance to review the blade when it first came out and also just waited for the final version to be sent to me. When I was checking the blade, the axylium layer was very obscure and very hard to see. It is almost invisible to the eye but upon closer inspection you will see the composite layer on the 2nd layer of the blade. Speed When I was bouncing the ball onto the bare blade, I was surprised to see that the bounce is lower than the 36.5 and has a much lower pitch when basing on the ball bounce sound. I used the Xiom Tau II, Omega 7 Asia and Omega 7 China Ying for this test just to check exactly how fast it is. I would say the speed is not a true OFF+ nor it is exactly an OFF blade. If there is a level of speed existing between the 2 speed levels, that is where I will place the speed of the Hugo SAL. When I tried drilling with the Hugo SAL, I noticed that it is not slow. It maybe be slower than other carbon-composite blades but it is nowhere in the level of OFF- blades. I would say the speed is faster than the usual 7 ply limba all wood blades but slower than Xiom Stradivarius. If compared to other brands, this is slower than TB ALC or Viscaria for comparison purposes. Looping and blade feel The Hugo SAL blade was designed to have the best feel maximized for players who want a good ball feedback to the hand. First and foremost, due to the very thin layer of axylium in the plies, the blade almost feels like an all wood blade. It has this very fine woody feel. It feels medium soft with some flex on the blade. The flex is almost similar to a 7 ply all wood blade. When I used the Xiom Tau II and a Chinese rubber on it, it felt so great looping underspin balls. Close to the table, hands down, this is the best looping blade Xiom has right now that is not an all wood blade. It loops really well like the Offensive S which is a slower 5 ply all wood blade. I think both the looping and feel characteristics are 2 of the best Hugo SAL blade properties that you would really love. I would place this as a close to the table looping blade. If intermediate players who have developed a somewhat fair attacking strokes would be able to use this with no difficulty whatsoever. For advanced players, this is a great looping machine that will enable you to do precise, strong spinny loops near the table. If partnered with a super fast rubber like the Xiom Omega 7 Hyper, you can even counter loop away from the table. I think this was made to complement the hard and fast attacking rubbers of Xiom. The medium soft feel of the Hugo SAL is perfect to combine with rubbers having hardness of 50 degrees and above. Even the Omega 7 China Guang which is 60 degrees does not feel as hard as when placed on to other blades.you want to go back farther from the table, the Omega 7 China Ying/Guang and the Omega 7 Asia are both enough for the Hugo SAL not to lose speed farther from the table. Control and Usability The blade has a high level of control comparable to a 7ply all wood blade. I would even go further by saying that people who wants to transition from an all wood blade but are hesitant to use a fast carbon blade can greatly benefit from just choosing the Hugo SAL. The blade is very forgiving and high controllable that
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Independent online TT Product reviewer of XIOM, STIGA, JOOLA, SANWEI, GEWO, AIR, ITC, APEX, YASAKA and ABROS
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nv42
Super Member Joined: 01/22/2013 Location: india Status: Offline Points: 466 |
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How would you compare the 36.5 alx blade to a vega euro? I've started using my old vega pro and it actually feels quite a bit like a more controlled jm super zlc, works quite well with the abs balls. Havnt tried many blades that can get a consistent low arc with plenty of spin even when using 50 deg+ med-high throw rubbers. Feels like the stiff nature of the blade tames the bouncy rubbers quite well, and I can even get good quality slow topspins/open ups with most of the new thin topsheets hard sponge rubbers on these blades.
I havnt had a chance to try the new feel series blades, but from what I've read, they seem to play quite a bit different, and couldn't find any other blade on the market that would be a good vega pro/euro replacements, except the super zlc serie. Wish they'd bring those back, if not hopefully the new alx blades are a similarly performing or better performing blades.
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1.dhs pg2 fl
-FH t05h (max) -BH tibhar genius (max) |
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yogi_bear
Forum Moderator Joined: 11/25/2004 Location: Philippines Status: Offline Points: 7219 |
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Vega Euro was good but i think 36.5 has more flex and felt more like a Viscaria
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Independent online TT Product reviewer of XIOM, STIGA, JOOLA, SANWEI, GEWO, AIR, ITC, APEX, YASAKA and ABROS
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nv42
Super Member Joined: 01/22/2013 Location: india Status: Offline Points: 466 |
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Don't really like the bty alc feel with the abs ball, was looking for something with a little more bite/spin in the lower gears without being overly bouncy. S-ZLC with limba does this really well. Maybe a a similar blade to the 36.5 with a limba outer would be great. Thanks for the response though, love that your taking time to post a review even during the lockdown.
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1.dhs pg2 fl
-FH t05h (max) -BH tibhar genius (max) |
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AMonteiro
Platinum Member Joined: 01/30/2007 Location: Brazil Status: Offline Points: 2041 |
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Then you can look at the new JOOLA Freeze blade. It offers similar "cold temperature" ALC curing made in Korea but with limba outer layer.
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Dynaryz AGR /Yasaka Goiabao 5 / Dynaryz AGR
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nv42
Super Member Joined: 01/22/2013 Location: india Status: Offline Points: 466 |
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Thanks for the suggestion, that definitely looks interesting, guess it's gonna be a while before it's released widely.
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1.dhs pg2 fl
-FH t05h (max) -BH tibhar genius (max) |
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jpenmaster
Platinum Member Joined: 12/24/2008 Location: Chicago Status: Offline Points: 2176 |
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Received a 36.5 today. Weird thing is mine is pretty thick at almost 5.92mm.
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OSP Expert II w DNA Dragon Grip
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yogi_bear
Forum Moderator Joined: 11/25/2004 Location: Philippines Status: Offline Points: 7219 |
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what is the logo? SaAL or HAL?
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Magic_M
Platinum Member Joined: 05/31/2012 Location: Germany Status: Offline Points: 2217 |
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@yogi_bear: I don't understand your question. There are 2 versions of the Xiom Calderano (SAL at first and now HAL), but he received a 36,5 like he wrote and as far as I know, there is only ONE version of the Xiom 36,5 ALX.
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yogi_bear
Forum Moderator Joined: 11/25/2004 Location: Philippines Status: Offline Points: 7219 |
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Nevermind i overlooked the blade name. To answer about his blade's thickness, the 5.9mm is still in normal range
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Independent online TT Product reviewer of XIOM, STIGA, JOOLA, SANWEI, GEWO, AIR, ITC, APEX, YASAKA and ABROS
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jpenmaster
Platinum Member Joined: 12/24/2008 Location: Chicago Status: Offline Points: 2176 |
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Hopefully Xiom will tighten up the tolerance. They build a really nice blade but i think +/- .2mm is too much. That would allow blades that are 5.5mm - 5.9mm.
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OSP Expert II w DNA Dragon Grip
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mykonos96
Gold Member Joined: 07/19/2018 Location: Southam Status: Offline Points: 1948 |
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Like rosewood7?
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yogi_bear
Forum Moderator Joined: 11/25/2004 Location: Philippines Status: Offline Points: 7219 |
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Rosewood feels al ot stiffer especially rw7
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Independent online TT Product reviewer of XIOM, STIGA, JOOLA, SANWEI, GEWO, AIR, ITC, APEX, YASAKA and ABROS
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andzejgolot
Super Member Joined: 10/26/2018 Location: Poland Status: Offline Points: 309 |
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im not big fan of xiom but I will defend blades like sal/hal even alx 36,5 why because they making somethin new, innovative.
You think that 5,9 is bad thickness when I had chance to play 74grams innerforce zlf layer and 92grams too and I find you can get 75 grams Viscaria and 92 grams too, so xiom is not bad with different thickness. I had 3 joints of kiri glued on Viscaria so please it is better to get 0,2 mm thicker blade than 3 different pieces like puzzle.. You can find 5.5mm thick michael maze alc and 5,9. Edited by andzejgolot - 07/15/2020 at 8:42pm |
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Sedis
Super Member Joined: 01/31/2015 Location: United Kingdom Status: Offline Points: 214 |
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I wonder if Xiom blades are generally a bit thicker than they list them at?
I tried an Ice Cream AZX last year and it was 6.05mm rather than the 5.7mm it is listed as. Absolutely not a problem if you know about it, but it could be an issue if you weren't expecting it. To be fair I have also had a Gewo Super Force CF that was listed at 5.7mm and turned out to be 5.04mm, although I did notice Tabletennis11 revised the thickness in their listing later, so this might not have just been mine. Maybe we need to check the thickness of blades as well as the weight when purchasing if we want a particular characteristic.
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yogi_bear
Forum Moderator Joined: 11/25/2004 Location: Philippines Status: Offline Points: 7219 |
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it is normal for blades to have a 0.5 difference but it is quite different if it is more than 1mm in difference.
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Independent online TT Product reviewer of XIOM, STIGA, JOOLA, SANWEI, GEWO, AIR, ITC, APEX, YASAKA and ABROS
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M.Hoang
Member Joined: 08/26/2018 Location: Viet Nam Status: Offline Points: 52 |
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This is the blade of champion at the highest league in my country - Vietnam
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M.Hoang
Member Joined: 08/26/2018 Location: Viet Nam Status: Offline Points: 52 |
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Edited by M.Hoang - 07/20/2020 at 2:12am |
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jpenmaster
Platinum Member Joined: 12/24/2008 Location: Chicago Status: Offline Points: 2176 |
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I must admit trying the Icecream blades and hating them (too stiff) I was reluctant to try the 36.5. Then when the blade was slightly thicker than advertised i was really expecting to hate it. Honestly I love this blade. It feels like innerforce and has the control of innerforce but has the top end performance of Viscaria. Its basically as advertised which usually doesnt happen.
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OSP Expert II w DNA Dragon Grip
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yogi_bear
Forum Moderator Joined: 11/25/2004 Location: Philippines Status: Offline Points: 7219 |
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i think even witj butterfly blades you would have variance in thickness
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nikolagrbic
Beginner Joined: 12/01/2005 Location: Croatia Status: Offline Points: 15 |
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Anyone tried Hugo Sal and Hugo Hal?
Can you tell me which is the faster blade?
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Grbic
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ander999
Member Joined: 10/05/2021 Location: New York Status: Offline Points: 33 |
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HAL is quicker, its also the newer model.
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nikolagrbic
Beginner Joined: 12/01/2005 Location: Croatia Status: Offline Points: 15 |
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Thanks
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Grbic
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